American manufacturers importing workers | money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. manufacturers, frustrated by a shortage of skilled American factory workers, are going abroad to find them.

Business for factories has surged recently, creating a huge demand for machinists, tool and die makers, computer-controlled machine programmers and operators.

“These jobs are the backbone of manufacturing,” said Gardner Carrick, senior director with the Manufacturing Institute. “These are good quality middle-class jobs that Americans should be training for.”

The United States is experiencing a shrinking pipeline of manufacturing talent, said James Wall, deputy director of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills.

“It’s been in the making for years,” he said. Factories didn’t feel the labor pinch as much when manufacturing was in a slump. But the latest “Made in USA” resurgence has them scrambling.